Abstract
Informal arguments are omnipresent in scientific texts. In order to understand and evaluate such arguments, students have to decode their structure. To measure this competency, the computer-assisted argument structure test (AST) was developed for students of social and educational sciences as well as student teachers. The test-takers read short texts containing informal arguments and identify ...
Abstract
Informal arguments are omnipresent in scientific texts. In order to understand and evaluate such arguments, students have to decode their structure. To measure this competency, the computer-assisted argument structure test (AST) was developed for students of social and educational sciences as well as student teachers. The test-takers read short texts containing informal arguments and identify their functional components (e.g., claim, reason, warrant). On the basis of a sample of 225 students, the reliability and validity of the AST was examined for the first time. The AST proved to be reliable, with a wide range of item difficulties. In an explanatory item response model, the item difficulties were predicted very precisely through theoretically relevant item features that are known to influence argument comprehension. Correlations with verbal intelligence as well as school and study performance provided evidence for the criterion validity of the instrument.
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